The Brian Rossiter Inquiry

1. The events leading to the tragic death of Brian Rossiter

14 year old Brian Rossiter was arrested on suspicion of public order offences in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary at 9.30 on Tuesday, September 10th 2002. He was held overnight at Clonmel Garda Station with the consent of his father. He was found unconscious in the garda cell the following morning and was taken to St Joseph's Hospital Clonmel, before being transferred to Cork University Hospital, where he was maintained on life support pending a diagnosis of brain stem death. He was pronounced dead two days later on September 13th, 2002.

Following his death Gardai pursued a possible link with an alleged incident at Cashel Street, close to the centre of Clonmel, where according to Gardai, Brian was assaulted sometime around midnight on Sunday 8th September, 2002. A man is currently before the Circuit Criminal Court on a charge of assault causing harm arising from this incident.

That man was at one stage charged with assault causing serious harm and manslaughter though these charges have since been dropped following the revelation by the Director of Public Prosecutions (D.P.P.) James Hamilton that he did not authorise those charges. His office has since informed the Rossiter family that there was no evidence to justify a link between that assault and Brian’s death sufficient to justify such a charge. The D.P.P. has since conducted a separate inquiry into why and by whom those serious charges were brought.

1. The events leading to the tragic death of Brian Rossiter
2. The events since Brian's death culminating in an Inquiry
3. The Inquiry Process
4. The outcome of the Inquiry
5. What the media reported